Manufacture of building or wall paper



EDWARD THOMPSON, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

MANUFACTURE OF BUILDING OR WALL PAPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 235,178, dated December '7, 1880.

Application filed March 15, 1880. (Specimens) To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD THoMPsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing in New Orleans, parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, have invented certain new Improvements in the Art or Process of the Manufacture of an Article known as Building or Wall Paper; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a new method of preparing building or Wall paper and the production of a prepared material as a new article of manufacture.

Hcretofore a thick paper -'board known as building-paper, and sometimes called Western plastering-board, for finishing of rooms in lieu of plastering, has been and is now made from straw and printed in a few ordinary or plain colors, such as oak, walnut, grained, blue stripes, &c., comprising some five or six different styles, printed by hand or on a machine specially made for the purpose.

In the application of this paper to walls the edges of the paper have to be butted, and over these edges or joints a thick paper border is placed and strongly tacked, which gives to the walls an interrupted or panel finish, and in some cases this paper is covered with ordinary wall-paper, secured by means of paste. This paper has generally been made thirtytwo inches Wide, and, being a thick paperboard, readily absorbs a large amount of moisture from the atmosphere, causing it to swell and wrinkle, and making it present a very unpleasant surface to the eye, and liable to break away from its fastenings. Also, a thin printed paper known as wall-paper has been and is now used for the finishing of rooms unplastered, by first covering the walls with cloth or canvas and then pasting the wall-paper on said cloth or canvas. In finishing walls in this manner it is first quite difficult to get the cloth smooth to receive the paper, and more difflcult to hold it permanently in its place, and in the course of time the cloth Will expand some, causing the paper to crack, peel off, 850. Very frequently this mode of finishing rooms is found to be temporary in its character and comparatively eX- pensive, while the paste used in applying the paper-attracts vermin; also, the paste, by reason of decay or fermentation, becomes a source of malarial influence, liable to affect the health of the occupants of the premises.

My discovery or invention consists in the employment or use of a paper made in whole or part from rope or other suitablennaterial used by paper-makers in making paper of the greatest strength, not exceeding twenty inches in width, and of an intermediate thickness between the straw paper-board and ordinary wall-paper, whereby a paper of the required strength and flexibility in a sheet or roll of paper of much less weight and thickness than in paper made from straw, ordinary rags, &c., is produced.

My invention also consists in this paper manufactured from rope or other material of great strength, and wall-paper power-machines, as a new article of manufacture having certain properties, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In carrying out my invention I take paper manufactured from rope, which process of manufacture consists, essentially, in cutting up the stock and reducing it to a pulp by boiling and beating, then forming it into long sheets about twenty (20) inches in width, and passing them between pressure and drying rollers and calendering-cylinders, in the usual manner of manufacturing paper, to secure the desired thickness-about one sixtyfourth (i) of an inch. This paper, manufactured from rope or its equivalent material, possessing quality, flexibility, and strength, is now passed to the ordinary power-machine for printing wall-paper, to receive the desired pattern in colors, which operation completes the new production in the form of a vendible article.

I have discovered that this paper, manufactured from rope or other material of superior strength, flexibility, and quality, which is thinner and narrower, as described, is not so sensibly affected by the atmospheric changes, and that it can be printed by the power-machine used for printing the ordinary wall-paprinted by the ordinaryper ors and designs at a less cost than if printed by hand on the straw-board.

This prepared paper is applied to the wall in the following manner: After cutting the paper to correspond with the height of the wall, and one edge out oli close to the figure, pattern, or color, it is slightly dampened by water, put up and secured to the boards or studding of the sides and ends of the room by matching the trimmed edge of one piece over the untrimmed edge of another piece until it matches the corresponding figure, pattern, or color, and the lapped edge is tacked every inch with a small tack, or may he pasted together with a paste suitable for the purpose; also, the top and bottom portions of each strip are tacked or pasted in the same manner, and a border of the ordinary wall-paper pasted over the same. The wall-paper thus arranged presents one uninterrupted and continuous surface to the eye.

The following advantages are gained by the employment of this new production: First, I secure the same strength in a paper much thinner and of less weight than the straw-board paper; second, the paper, being thinner and uarrower,does not absorb so much ofthe moisture of the atmosphere, hence lies smoother, and is more easily secured and held permanently to the studding or boards forming the sides and ends of the room; third, the paper being thinner than the straw board paper permits it to be printed in a great variety of l l l l colors and designs; fourth, the paper being thus printed in a variety of colors and designs makes it much more desirable as a finish for rooms; fifth, the paper, being of the thickness substantially as described, can be applied as specified by lapping the edges, thus presenting an unbroken and continuous surface to the eye; sixth, it does away with the necessity and cost of putting borders over the vertical joints of the paper wall and makes the application more simple and easy; and, finally, the cost of transportation is less.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of manufacturing ornamental l )uilding-paper or plastering-paper which consists in making the paper from rope or other material possessing the qualities of strength and flexibility, of the thickness and width substantially as described, and passing the same through an ordinary wall-paper power-machine to receive the desired pattern in colors, as hereinbet'ore described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, the ornamental building-paper or plastering-paper consisting of the material manufactured from rope or other material possessing the qualities of strength and flexibility, and printed with wall-paper colors or patterns, substantially as hereinbefore described.

EDWARD THOMPSON. in presence of- CHAS. G. AUDRY, EDGAR GRIMES. 

